The Seven Generations War
by The Modern Da Vinci
Summary: Based on a game of Civ 3. An incident between the Babylonian and Zulu Empires causes what was going to be a quick border skirmish to drag into a 700 year long war. Presented from the points of view of many people throughout the years of war. My first fanfic, so R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Years of Peace: 5,360

"I now christen you the new king" the squire said as he placed the crown on the head of the man kneeling in front of him. He proceeded to stand up and walk to the balcony, with hundreds of thousands of subjects below.

"HAIL KING HAMMURABI, THE 536TH!"

With this declaration from the squire, the crowd below exploded into a frenzy. And Hammurabi knew that this cheering was not forced. The people loved their king, and would do anything for him. But this may have been because he wasn't a king in the sense that many would think, as the country was a democracy, with elected officials making all of the decisions. As king, he could still suggest budgets and what was to be built in each city, and likely he would be heeded, but it was ultimately the people's power. The only thing King Hammurabi had total power over was the military, which for the Babylonian Empire was a simple self defense force.

It was while he was standing on this balcony, Hammurabi thought about his place in the World, as well as that of the Zulu and Babylonian Empires. The Year was 1360 AD, and there were only three nations in at this time. On the main continent, which took up most of the Great Ocean, there was the Babylonian Empire on the northern Half, and the Zulu Empire on the southern half. The Zulu Empire was much larger, with a land mass of 200,000 square miles and a population of 2 billion people. However, it was a poor, backward nation. They had very little natural resources outside of horses, iron, and a single deposit of saltpeter, which they couldn't work but was the only known reserve in the world. In addition, their economy was very simple and poor, with the government barely able to pay for the things it needed. However, the Zulu did have one good thing going for them: Their military. While old, it was the largest in the world, with well trained soldiers. Despite this, they had maintained good relations with the other nations and wars hadn't broken out.

This contrasted greatly with the Babylonian Empire. Only half the size and population of the Zulu Empire, the Babylonians were the most technologically advanced country in the world. When the Zulu were still just getting to using rocks instead of mud as a building material, the Babylonians astounded the world with skyscrapers of brick and steel, bridges spanning rivers, and massive stone highways that allowed faster travel by wagon and horseback. They were also the richest country in the world. Their economy was greater than the Zulus 3 times over, allow for the technological development that wasn't afforded to the Zulu. This boom was fueled by access to raw materials. Iron and Coal lead to steel and power, and this financed government investment into research. But the Babylonian military was small, at barely 1/100th the size of the Zulu military. But it made up for this with technology, using repeating rifles when the Zulu were using bronze spears and wicker shields.

There was also the Egyptians, where were on an island to themselves. There were recluses though, with very few knowing what went on in their country. It was believed they had the largest coal and iron reserves in the world, but they wouldn't trade and stuck to themselves for the most part.

And this was the situation that Hammurabi the 536th found himself coming into, like the hundreds of others before him. He raised his hand and the crowd below fell silent.

"My people, I promise to you now that we will continue to prosper and thrive in the years to come. We continue to be the most technologically advanced society in the world, and prosper economically. I guarantee that in the next 50 years, this nation and the world around it will be very different than it is today." When he finished his speech, the crowd exploded again, cheering and chanting Hammurabi's name. He left the balcony and went back into his palace, ready to serve his country. He wouldn't figure out until years later, but the speech he had given would have a much different meaning than he intended.

* * *

**AN: I decided that the best way to hand wave away fact that your leader seemingly lives forever is that they are just different people with the same name, hence "Hammurabi the 536th." And just to get to a number I can work with, I decided that each king before the current one lived for 100 years before dying.**

**It should be noted that this is my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is much appreciated. I am not sure when updates will come, but I will try to be timely. Read and Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Just a quick warning to anyone who may be freaked out by it, there will be a severed head in this chapter. I didn't put any detail into other than stating "Yes, its a severed head" and it will likely be the most graphic thing in the entire story. Just wanted to warn anyone who wouldn't jive well with that. Now, back to the story.**

* * *

Years of Peace: 5,400

Hammurabi was lucky. His empire was still at peace with other nations and his nation had continued to prosper. Major road and building projects had helped push the Babylonian Empire even further into the future and prosperity with very little to slow them down.

That was until today. Hammurabi was to meet with his advisors and some engineers for his next project: The building of coastal fortresses in all coastal cities in order to better defend them in the unlikely event of war. Hammurabi gathered his advisors in the palace and began the meeting. He would only be there to oversee the meeting and approve any plans, while his advisors did all the real work and debating.

"So, you said there was a problem with the project?" asked the Domestic Advisor.

"Yes. We have completed the designs for the fortresses, but have run into a problem with resources: We have the iron needed, but we don't have enough saltpeter" said the engineer.

"Not enough saltpeter? I don't understand. We have massive reserves of the stuff, and it's used for all of our guns and explosives" Responded the Trade Advisor.

"Yes, but we require pure saltpeter for the guns in the fortress. The synthetic saltpeter we use for our guns and explosives will not work."

"Whose brilliant idea was that?!" Said the Science Advisor.

The engineer covered his mouth and gave a small cough. "So, anyway, we will need to find a source of pure saltpeter before we can continue." With this, the engineer concluded his briefing and left, leaving Hammurabi and his advisors to come up with a plan.

"What is the status of pure saltpeter deposits in our territory?" Hammurabi began.

"We still haven't been able to find anything. We could send ships out to search for other lands with saltpeter, but as of now, the Zulu have the only known deposit in the world." Said the Domestic Advisor.

"What is the possibility that we can trade for the saltpeter?"

"That won't happen either" said the Trade Advisor. "We have been negotiating with them for months with no headway. We have offered them 20,000 gold coins, which are 90% of our treasury; we have offered to pay them 70 gold coins per month, which is 50% of our income, and 5 times their income if I may add. Resources, technology, we even offered them one of our frontier towns and they STILL won't accept any offers. So trade with the Zulu is dead in the water."

"Well then, what other options do we have? Speak up, we will discuss anything."

"What about an invasion?" suggested the Science Advisor.

However, this plan was quickly defeated by the Military Advisor. "It wouldn't work. Not only is the military too small to launch an offensive campaign at the moment, the Congress would never approve of a offensive war. Any bill we proposed would be defeated." Suddenly, the Foreign Advisor perked up.

"But you may be on to something there." He said. "Here is what I was thinking; we could send a spy to try and spread propaganda to convert the city where they mine saltpeter to our side." He pulled out a map of the Zulu Empire and rolled it out on the table. He took a pencil and pointed to a city on the map. "It's this city here, Nodwenga. Looking at this map, you should see 3 things that would help us if we tried this. Firstly, it is near our territory, only about 400 miles outside our borders, with only 3 cities between them. Second, it is far away from their capital, and from what I have heard from envoys, they have had many uprisings there before. And lastly, it is near the coast of the Great Inland Sea. We could build a new city and then ship it out from there."

Hammurabi was looking over the map. His Advisor was right; this situation seemed too good to be true. It could actually work, and even if the Zulu took the city back at a later year, he would hopefully have the saltpeter he needed. But he did think of one problem.

"What would happen if our spy fails, and the Zulu catch him?"

"And there is the problem." Replied the Foreign Advisor. "The Zulu are a proud people, and even though we have been able to avoid wars with them so far, there is no telling if that would say the case if they caught our spy."

Hammurabi had to think for some moments. If this worked, he would have his new building project done, but there was great risk of the spy being caught, and even the chance of war. Was it worth it? Finally, he came to a decision.

"Send a spy to convert the city. And just in case things go wrong, I want the military to be expanded." Then the meeting was over and everyone returned to their duties. There was no turning back from what fate would throw at the Babylonian Empire.

* * *

6 Months Later

It took half a year to get the passports ready, back stories created, contacts forged, but eventually Agent Walker was able to sneak into the Zulu Empire and into the city of Nodwenga. The contrast between the Babylon and Zulu was the first thing Walker noticed. People were living in houses made out of stone, no running water, very little food, and the people still lived like serfs, forced to work in the saltpeter mines. Walker hoped this fact would work to his advantage that the people would more easily defect to the Babylonian Empire, where they would be much better taken care of. According to the intelligence they had gotten, the Zulu military was not in the city, so they should be able to spread their propaganda and flip the city to their side before the military arrived.

Agent Walker and two of his men went to the village center of Nodwenga to begin the plan to turn the city. They had dressed to resemble miners in the city, with Walker wearing a dirty pair of overalls and a miner's helmet. As his partners put up the propaganda posters, Agent Walker began his speech.

"My fellow citizens of Nodwenga! The Zulu Empire does not care about us, and seeks to leave our city-state weak!" he shouted. "They do everything they can to keep our city-state down so that we can never prosper." By now, he was starting to get the attention of people walking around the square, with murmurs going through the crowd. Then a miner in the crowd spoke up.

"And just what do you expect us to do about it, bub?" he shouted above the crowd.

"We should secede from the Zulu Empire, and join the Babylonian Empire." Now gasp and louder talking started coming from the crowd. He could hear some people nearby saying how crazy of an idea it was, and decided it would be time to start trying to move in for the kill. "I know it sounds crazy, my brothers and sisters. But under the Babylonians, we would be free! We would be well represented in their government, and I am sure you have all heard the stories of how wealthy and advanced their society is. Under the Zulu, we starve and live in hovels of rock and wood, with barely enough food to feed our families. If we just joined Babylon, things would be better."

"You know, that's a good point. I am sick of not having enough coins to put food on the table every day." Said the miner from before.

"Is it true? Do they really have buildings of metal so tall they touch the sky? And they can afford whole feast every day?" said a woman in the front row. From where Agent Walker was standing, everything seemed to be going as planned. Soon, it would spread through town among the people that they wanted to defect, and then the city would belong to Babylon. Just then, one of the agents walked up to him and whispered into his ear.

"We have a problem, sir. It seems that while we were giving this speech, a division of Impi Warriors moved into the city." Walker was shocked. They were told that no military was in the city, and now a division of Impi Warriors, the elite units of the Zulu military were in the city.

"How did intel miss that?!"

"It seems that they were camped just outside town at the mines, and a loyalist shop owner told them we were here."

This posed problems. The Impi were know for their speed, and if they were camped at the mines, that was only 3 miles from the village. They could be there in an hour, maybe even less for the first units. And there were only 5 agents including walker, so they couldn't fight. They had to run. "How much time do we have?"

Just then, Walker heard a woman scream and looked up. Standing there were about 20 Impi warriors, spears at the ready and shields on hand. They started looking around and then one of them saw Walker and his agents. "There they are! Those are the traitors!" the commander shouted to his men. Walker and his agents then took off running for the safe house. But before they could even get out of the square, one of the agents got caught by the Impi. He tried to grab one of their spears, but just as he did another warrior thrust with his own spear and killed him. At this point, many in the crowd started screaming and running. "_The plan is ruined."_ Thought Walker as he ran for his life.

They were able to make it back to the safe house and get their guns. They each had a 5-shot single action revolver just in case they needed them, but they had left them at the safe house because they believed that the Zulu army would not be nearby. Walker made sure the bullets were loaded into his gun and then turned to his men. "I need you guys to run. Go separate ways and get back to Babylon. Tell them the mission failed."

"What about you, sir?" Asked one of the other agents.

"I need to stay and destroy some documents and other compromising material. I will catch up, GO!" he shouted as they started running. He lit a fire and started dumping documents into them. Maps, propaganda leaflets, mission orders, it was all burned. But before he could finish the last of it, he heard voices outside the door. "Someone said they came down this way."

"_Shit! It's only been 5 minutes and they still found me?!"_ Walker thought to himself. He quickly dumped the last of the documents into the fire, and moments after doing this 5 Impi warriors busted down the door.

"We have been looking for you, traitor. There is no need for more violence. If you surrender, you will avoid putting other in danger." The leader in the group said to Walker. Walker just stood there with his teeth gritted, thinking about his next move. Then, he reached into his overalls and pulled out his revolver. Before the Impi could even react, he fired off all of his rounds and took off running into an alleyway, hoping it would be an escape. He couldn't tell how many he had got before he had to run, but the leader had been shot in the head and was definitely dead, so at least one less pursuer was after him. But now they knew he was not Zulu. In the Zulu Empire, guns were rare, expensive, and only single shot. They would know something was up the moment they figure out he fired 5 at them without any pause except to pull the hammer back. The mission was going FUBAR very fast.

He stopped in at a crossroads in the alley and took cover behind a wall to reload his gun. Just as he did, more Impi Warriors came down the road he had just been on, and were following him. He leaned out and fired off a shot, which put them behind cover when he did. Then, he took another shot at a warrior coming down the road. This shot hit him in the arm, and he feel to the ground screaming. Then he looked to his left and saw another warrior trying to flank him. He got shot in the head and was dead before he even hit the ground. Just when it seemed it couldn't get worse, Walker heard the sound of bare feet on the ground behind him. He turned around just in time to see a warrior thrusting his spear at him, screaming like some kind of demon.

* * *

King Hammurabi was still waiting on word from Agent Walker. The other agents had made it back and reported that the mission had failed. By now, Hammurabi had scraped the coastal fortress project and was preparing for damage control with the Zulu. He had decided to take a walk in the Palace gardens to clear his head and think better. The Zulu would likely demand some form of reparations for this intrusion onto their lands, but Hammurabi was willing to pay it. He knew that it would be better than a war, and they were already so far ahead of the Zulu in every area, it wouldn't make much difference in the grand scheme of the world. Just then, his military advisor came out to meet him, holding a scroll in one hand, and a burlap sack in the other. From where he was standing, Hammurabi could tell there was some kind of liquid on the sack, but he wasn't sure what it was.

"Sir, this was just delivered for you by a messenger from the Zulu Empire." Said the military advisor.

"Did he say what was in it?"

"No, he just said that you needed to open it urgently."

Suddenly, a grave feeling overcame Hammurabi. For some reason, he felt that something really bad was about to happen, and that it had something to do with the items just delivered by the Zulu. He first took the burlap sack and looked inside. The first thing that hit him was the stench, one of death and blood. It was so powerful he was forced to look away, but when he looked again, he was so shocked he dropped the sack; and out rolled the severed head of his spy, Agent Walker. Many servants nearby were shocked and one even screamed upon seeing it.

Still in shock from this, Hammurabi took the scroll and read it. It said simply "_This war is the fault of your people, and your people alone. We will not accept you and your dastardly ways and will rid you from the Earth. Then perhaps we can finally progress and your people will stop holding us back._"

Hammurabi handed the scroll back to his military advisor. "It is a declaration of war. Tell the congress to begin the formation of an emergency army and crash production of a navy. And send for General Alexander. Go, NOW!"

"At once, sir." The military advisor then turned around and ran to take care of his tasks. Less than an hour later, General Alexander was in the Kings Throne room, already in his battle uniform and ready to go to war.

"I have heard the news that the treacherous Zulu have declared war on us. What do you require of me, my King?"

"It will still take some time for the emergency army to be trained and equipped, and our intel shows the Zulu army is already on the move toward our frontier town of Sippar. I need you to go and draft two battalions worth of men to hold the line until we can train a real army. Can I trust you with this task?"

"It will be an honor, my King. I will ensure that the city still stands even in the face of a Zulu attack."

"Excellent. Go now." This was to be the beginning. This war would be the first that had ever been fought between two nations, and it would show if the Zulu or Babylon was to be the major power of the world. While no one knew it yet, this war was to be more than the simple border skirmish many believed it was going to be. It would be the opening of the gates of Hell onto the Earth.

* * *

**AN: I told you it would take a while for me to update. Granted this chapter is longer. However, I believe that most of the chapters from now on will be around the same length as this one, or longer, since the next chapter is where all the action starts.**

**I also went back and updated the last chapter, namely fixing some grammar mistakes and changing the introduction of the world to be Hammurabi contemplating rather than me addressing the reader. Credit for that particular change goes to ChocolateTeapot, who suggested the change in his review (and yes, the original way was rather clunky. Thanks for the suggestion.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Years of War: 1

General Alexander stepped off the train in Sippar with the rest of his officers as men rushed to unload the guns they had brought with them. He had the order straight from the King to raise a conscript army in Sippar to fight off the Zulu until a proper army can get trained and take the place of the conscripts. There were only 5 units of trained riflemen in the army that could be deployed, and they had been set up in the mountains to act as the last stand in case the line at Sippar was breached. However, many in Alexander's command staff were not happy about this fact and believed the King was sending them on a suicide mission. Alexander and his officers quickly made their way to the city square in front of the courthouse and prepared to deliver the news of the war and the conscription. He had already drawn the attention of several people as it was unusual to see a general officer in the frontier. He got to the top of the stairs of the courthouse and started to shout into the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Sippar, we are now at war with the Zulu Empire." A gasp went through the crowd and many people started shaking their heads in disbelief. Alexander didn't blame them, as there had not been a war since the beginning of recorded history.

He continued speaking. "As many of you may know, the Babylonian military is small, and we do not have the forces to spare at the moment. For this reason, we require every male between the ages of 18 and 35 to report to city courthouse to be drafted into a temporary defense force." Upon finishing his statement, and after what he said started to sink in, an angry murmur started to spread through the crowd. Alexander realized that people were not happy about the draft, so he spoke up and tried to calm the people down. "Citizens, I know you are unhappy about this draft and this war. But if we do not the Zulu will overrun the city and enslave you to their backward way of life. The draft is temporary until a true army can be trained. After this, you will be released and the men of the conscript force can return home." With this, the crowd was still grumbling, but had calmed down and went on their way, with some men already starting to report to the steps of the courthouse.

Alexander sent out messengers to get the word to all men in the town, and turned to head into the courthouse and start reviewing and briefing the men who showed up. Just then, one of his officers grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "I think you just prevented a riot, sir."

Alexander paused to contemplate what this soldier had said. It was true, people were angry over the draft, and it seemed like any second a riot could have broken out, but with his swift thinking, he had managed to at least calm down the crowd. By now, the first conscripts were starting to show up, so Alexander went into the courthouse to begin the selection process. It would take all day to ready the recruits.

* * *

1 year later

Years of War: 2

The situation in Sippar was steady, if uneasy. A massive encampment of Zulu warriors had been outside the city for the past 6 months, with no end to the siege in sight. Scouts had reported that there was well over 600,000 warriors just outside the city, while Alexander had a measly 3,000 soldiers at his command. He truly believed the only thing holding the Zulu back was his guns. They had sent some probing attacks to test the strength of the line and had been destroyed every time with minimal effort. This was thanks to the defenses he had constructed. They were positioned about 2 miles outside the city on the plains. It gave the Zulu free movement, but it also allowed his men to get the best shots possible. Trenches were on the front where the men would fire out with their rifles, while behind them were Gatling Guns mounted in horse drawn wagons. If the enemy started to overwhelm them, they would fall back to a secondary position in the city and fight them there. However, the conscripts still had a hard time even just shooting with accuracy, let alone fighting close quarters. If it came to a melee fight, they would lose. However, they only had to hold the line for another day. Command had 4 armies worth of trained, well equipped riflemen on the way, 20,000 strong with more than enough firepower and training to take the Zulu army head on. But the trains carrying them were still on their way, so until then they had to hold the line. And surely the Zulu knew this, and were preparing to strike with all their forces to destroy Alexander's conscript army. He stood on top of his watch tower, telescope in hand, waiting for the Zulu attack.

James had one of the better positions in the conscript army. He had been assigned to one of the Gatling Guns and was, barring the command staff, in the safest place on the field at the moment. He had heard the general give his speech in the city square and was one of the first to sign up. Due to his normal job in manual labor as a construction worker, his upper body strength had made him the perfect choice for manning the gun due to the hand-crank. And being back behind the front and in a horse cart that could move faster than people could run. All he had to do was just stand there and rain lead. Personally, he had been waiting for a day like this. He understood that there was a large anti-war sentiment in his country, but he didn't like the idea of just sitting back and watching the Zulu let their people live in poverty and starve. Babylon wasn't perfect, but it was light-years better than the Zulu Empire. At least now, they had an excuse to go in and save the people from their corrupt republic. Besides, his wife and son were still in Sippar. He wasn't going to let the Zulu get any closer to them.

Alexander continued to watch the Zulu. They had sent some scouts out but there was still no attack that he could see. Since there were very few groves of trees and his watchtower could see everything for 10 miles around, it wasn't like they could sneak an army up on him without his forces finding out.

"Perhaps they don't know about our reinforcements." He mumbled to himself.

"What was that sir?" said the bulger next to him.

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud." He responded. Just then, he heard the sound of a horn coming from the Zulu main camp. They still didn't have musical instruments, so they relayed their orders with the most primitive methods available. Looking with his telescope, he saw Zulu warriors begin lining up in the fields in front of the lines as they began their war dances. In less than half an hour, they would be on the move. "Sound the call to arms! The Zulu are preparing to march." Alexander shouted to the bugler. He played the corresponding call and men started rushing to the trenches and their guns. There was 3 miles of open terrain before the Zulu hit the trenches, with it being almost pancake flat for the last quarter mile. However, the conscripts were still poor in their accuracy with their guns, so he would have to wait before giving the perfect time to fire. He had instructed the men to only open fire after given the signal, and then from there they could fire at will.

James had jumped on his Gatling gun at the sound of the bugle. This was going to be his first fight against the Zulu, and he could hardly wait. After they smashed the Zulu army, they could start marching and move on to capturing the Zulu cities one by one, saving them from their crooked masters. But his attitude started to change as he saw a dust cloud on the horizon. _"Just how big is this army?!"_ he thought to himself. They hadn't been told much other than that they were fighting the Zulu. He had no clue how big their force was, but it must have been huge to create a dust cloud as it was charging. He steeled himself to avoid getting too anxious and firing early. He knew he was supposed to wait until the order to fire, and even if everyone else fired early, he wouldn't.

That was when the first soldiers of the Zulu Army came into view, screaming like demons and charging at full speed. James set his hand on the crank and readied himself to fire. As they approached, he could tell others were getting antsy, but he wasn't going to turn that crank and fire until he had orders. Then his loader spoke up.

"Sir, are we going to open fire?"

"Not yet." James continued to watch as the Zulu approached. They were still out of range so it was pointless to open fire now. When they closed the distance, his loader spoke up again.

"Sir, they are in range now, are we firing now?"

"No, not until we get the signal." They got closer and closer and still no order to fire. By this point, some had broken and opened fire. But James had to hand it to his fellow conscripts. Most of them were still disciplined enough to hold their fire until they were told.

"SIR, Their almost on top of us! We need to open fire." His loader shouted.

"NOT until we get the signal!" James shouted back. Although at this point he was wondering if it would come. The Zulu were less than 300 yards way by now. He could see the whites of their eyes. He started to think maybe he should join in with people who had opened fire early. When the Zulu reached 100 yards, they finally got the signal to open fire, causing James to smile. _"So that's it. They wanted them to get close enough we wouldn't miss."_ He thought to himself. He then proceeded to turn the crank as fast as he could while the whole line in front of him opened fire. The burst brought down the first and even parts of the second wave of Impi warriors charging at them. Unlike his fellow soldiers with their lever-action rifles who had to work the lever for their next shot, James just had to keep turning the crank and spray his gun into the crowd, stopping every few minutes to reload. This battle was going to be a cake walk as long as they had bullets.

Up on the watch tower, General Alexander watched the battle taking place, relaying orders with the bugle. He was keeping a close eye on the advancing Zulu forces. He had noticed that whenever his forces had to stop firing to reload, the Zulu were getting closer. At first, he thought he was just seeing things, but now, after an hour of fighting, there was a noticeable advance. It was only a matter of time before the Zulu made it to the trenches. As if on cue, an Impi warrior jumped down into the trench and stabbed a soldier with his spear. While he was quickly dealt with, more and more Impi started making it to the trench, with even more on the way. Alexander turned to the bugler.

"Sound for the retreat. We need to head to the secondary defense position." The bugle was sounded and troops started retreating, running or jumping on the wagons with the Gatling guns to get away from the Impi. General Alexander got his own weapons out, with a revolver in one hand and his officer's sword in the other. He fell back to the barricade and after making sure all surviving soldiers were inside, had it walled off with an overturned cart to keep the Zulu out. By this point, the Zulu had taken a major hit to their forces, with over 40% losses so far. However, Alexander's forces were running low on food, ammunition, and morale. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on, or where the reinforcements were supposed to be.

James was still firing away with his Gatling gun into the approaching mob of Impi warriors. Steam and smoke were coming from the red-hot barrels of his gun, but he couldn't let up. Not now. If he did, then the Zulu would overrun Sippar, and who knows what they would do. Suddenly, his gun clicked from an empty magazine. He stopped turning the crank, completely worn out and running on adrenaline, turning to loader to get another magazine.

"That was the last one. We are out of ammo, sir." His loader replied. This didn't mean that James was going to give up. He pulled out the revolver they had given him and started firing. It looked like the other Gatling guns were running out at this point as well, and the Zulu just kept coming. _"Is this it? Are we going to lose? Are we going to die?"_ he thought to himself. Just then, he heard the lookout in the church steeple give out a signal on the bugle. They had all been told what it meant. It meant that the reinforcements had arrived. James looked over to see the General hold up his hands and shout as well as give out the bugle call.

"CEASE FIRE!"

Shortly after the gunfire stopped, a train pulled in front of the approaching Zulu mob and stopping their advance on the conscript army. The doors opened to reveal more Gatling guns and fresh soldiers. They jumped off and opened fire with pinpoint accuracy into the Zulu ranks, making every shot count. When the time came for close quarters, these soldiers had been trained on how to fight and came out on top. Slowly but surely, they managed to push the Zulu back into the fields at the first defensive point. The commander in charge of this force left the train and went over to General Alexander.

"You guys are a sight for sore eyes." Said Alexander as he shook hands with the commander. He looked at the force offloading from the train and those already advancing to the front. "Is this the whole force?"

"No, this is just the first wave. We have a force 2,000,000 strong coming down the continent by train with a force of engineers behind them to build new rail lines in captured territory. They ain't stopping until they reach the Nodwenga, maybe even the Zulu capital. Your force can stand down, General."

Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. If these reinforcements hadn't shown up when they did, he wasn't sure how much longer he could have held off the Zulu. "I am going to gather my men. Tell them they can go home."

"But first, there is something command wanted me to tell you." The commander added as Alexander started walking off."

"And whats that?"

* * *

"YOU'RE JOINING THE ARMY?!" James wife yelled at him. He had been told at the disbanding rally with the General that anyone who wanted to join the military as a permanent soldier would have an accelerated path through basic training due to their combat experience, and would then be placed in a combat unit and treated just like any other soldier. James jumped at the chance right then and there, wanting to make good on his desire to help the people of the Zulu Empire. But now, his wife was upset when he came home and told her the news. "You can't! I need you here to help take care of our child. I need you here with me."

He got where she was coming from. He was going to miss them as well. But his mind was made up. "It's not going to be for long. I am only signed up for 3 years. They say this war is not going to last that long. And then when I am done, I get the same benefits as other soldiers. It will be good for us. I promise you right now. I will survive and come back to you."

His wife looked down at the floor and mumbled "You promise?"

"Yes."

She then walked up to him and started hugging him. "Ok, just be careful."

"I will. I will see you soon."

* * *

**AN: Well, that update took WAY longer than I was hoping for. You can thank my Micro-Economics class, Thanksgiving, Prep for Christmas, and an annoying Xbox for that.**

**In case you couldn't tell, beyond this chapter is when all the action happens. Just to give a general idea of the weapon levels, my country was in the early Industrial period, so that would be around the American Civil war or the turn of the century. I went with Civil War era soldiers because the in-game model looks like the uniforms of that era, and the animation looks like a lever action rifle. I included the Gatling guns because 1) they existed during the time period as "artillery" and 2) the units you see in game are supposed to be a large unit like a battalion or an army group, so it would stand to reason they would have at least a few. Theirs was in early Medieval period, and while they had some musket men, the bulk of their army, and in fact the only ones that actually attacked me until a few years into the war were Impi warriors. Which as I am sure you can guess, stood no chance against guys with 10 shot, .30-.30 caliber rifles. Of course, this is also a game were a guy with a spear can beat an Abrams tank, so...**

**And this battle is exactly how it happened in the game. They just kept throwing Impi Warriors (which made up 90% of the Zulu army) into the grinder of my 2 Conscript Rifleman units, I nearly lost both of them, and then I finally got some real, trained Riflemen down there and they started tearing through the Impi like a hot knife through butter. I would have loved to have some Cavalry, but they need saltpeter, and we all remember how this war got started, right ;)**


End file.
